straight in a straight line running back to you
by birdbox
Summary: I'm not your story, he told her once when they first met. She knows it now: this is definitely a full circle. Seven semi-connected future!ficlets
1. part i

**straight in a straight line running back to you**- four future!fic oneshots exploring the course of Julia and Barbie's relationship. The first is set while they are still in the dome, but after they have worked through the circumstances surrounding Peter's death, the rest happen at chronological points in their relationship. For once, I am actually pleased with this turned out so I'd love to hear some thoughts on it. Enjoy :)

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**i. dating**

"When all this is over, Julia," Barbie says sleepily. They are curled up together under a blanket on her couch, Julia lying over him with his head propped up on the arm of the couch. Really she should suggest they go to bed because it's late and if they fall asleep like this which it seems like they might, both of them will wake up with sore muscles and cricks in their necks. But at present, she's just too comfortable with her head on his chest and legs entwined with his. His heart beats steady under her fingers.

It doesn't escape Julia's notice that he says 'when' rather than 'if', which she's mildly surprised about. When they first met he seemed a lot more fatalistic about the dome. She wouldn't be so arrogant as to believe she's what's influenced his outlook, but she still hopes she's part of it. "Yes?" she responds.

"Will you go on a date with me?"

His question makes Julia snort with laughter, not because the idea is laughable, but because that whole world seems so far away and alien now. She hasn't 'dated' anyone in years, since before she was married—she's not sure she remembers quite how. Plus, they've already been through more together in the short amount of time they've known one another than most married couples do in their whole lives. They've saved each others' lives more than once, they've had sex already, they've gotten through hurdles that threatened to destroy them and come out the other side stronger for it. Dating would be a formality for them at this point, but the abstract idea of him being her boyfriend is still something to look forward to.

His chest rumbles with soft laughter too, despite himself. "I don't what you're laughing at. I'm deadly serious. Pick you up at seven, dinner, maybe a movie, a kiss on the doorstep—the whole shebang."

"Never let it be said that you're not a gooey, hopeless romantic underneath your tough guy exterior," she says, yawning and curling into him a little more. "Sure. I'll go on a date with you. What restaurant are you taking me to?"

Barbie presses a kiss into her wild hair, and she feels him smile into it. "Now that would be telling."

-X-

**ii. arguments**

The main problem they have to get through in their relationship are his feelings of inferiority and subconsciously ingrained opinion that she deserves someone better than an illegal debt enforcer who is the reason her husband is dead, suicide by proxy or not. He doesn't make it immediately obvious to people, but Julia is all too aware that he doesn't have a very high opinion of himself because of the things he's done in the past. It causes and/or exacerbates most of their serious arguments, sometimes helping them evolving into out and out screaming matches.

It'll always start with something little, like running into an old acquaintance of Julia's who asks about Peter; Julia has to give an extremely sanitised explanation that he died while they were under the dome. The acquaintance will look sad and grip Julia's hands tightly while giving their sympathies, saying how good a man Peter was and how much they'll miss him. Barbie will get very quiet suddenly and it will last until they get home, when Julia asks if he wants to talk about it. He will say no brusquely, but it's an obvious lie. Julia will make a muttered, slightly bitter comment about how hard it is to ever get him to open up to her and things will escalate from there. They rip old skeletons out of their closet to get at one another until she's got tears of fury in her eyes or his hands are shaking with the desire to punch a wall in their house.

Barbie will storm out, Julia will storm out, or they'll both storm out and drive in different directions until they can't feel the searing heat of anger at themselves and each other (mainly at themselves though) burning through their veins any more. It will be a few hours before one of them comes back to find the other at the dining room table, quiet and awkward with things unsaid. They will mutually apologise for what they said, assure each other that they didn't mean it, that the vitriol was heat of the moment and nothing more which is true but they won't talk about what's really going on. And so it will happen again, every couple of months or so; they will go through the same motions and start over.

Until Julia decides to break from the toxic routine. He sits down opposite her at the dining room table and starts to apologise like they always do. This time though, she interrupts him. "I don't care." This surprises and upsets him a little, she can see it in his eyes. He looks like he's preparing for her to break up with him for good this time, which is part of the problem. "So prevention is better than cure, right? So this is what needs to happen now."

Leaning forward, she grabs his hands and holds them on the table between them, looking into his eyes. "You have got to stop putting me on a pedestal. You have got to stop telling yourself you don't deserve me, because you do."

Barbie shakes his head insistently, sadly. "No, I don't, Julia. You deserve someone better-"

Julia lets go of his hands like she's been burnt. "Don't you dare say it!" she hisses and he looks up, shocked at the strength of feeling in her voice. "Just stop it, okay?! I don't want whatever your idea of 'better' is, Barbie, I want _you_! I'm in love with _you, _you stubborn, masochistic douchebag! You have to start believing me when I tell you that, otherwise this -you and me- it just isn't going to work!"

She shoves her chair back so forcefully that the legs screech against the floor and stalks off, this time up to their room. It isn't the way she was planning to tell him she's in love with him for the first time, but it illustrated her point at least. Julia strips to her underwear and bunches up in a tight, tense ball under the covers, letting the tears flow unbidden. It's a short while before she hears Barbie come upstairs and silently into their room, slipping under the covers and wrapping his arms around her middle. She relaxes just a little and wipes the tears from her eyes. "I'm sorry," he whispers in the darkness.

"'Sorry' doesn't mean much if you don't do something about it," she reminds him quietly.

Barbie thinks about that for a second. "I still think you deserve better," he says, and she's about to kick him forcibly out of the bed until he adds, "But I'm going to be better for you."

Julia relaxes and smiles a little, turning to face him. "Well, you're getting there, anyway."

They will lean in and kiss goodnight. They will fall asleep and wake up tomorrow morning and get on with their lives, always side by side. And maybe, just maybe they'll be okay. After all, maybe has always been their word.

-X-

**iii. baby**

Julia miscarries her first pregnancy. They hadn't been trying to conceive and in fact, she hadn't even known she was pregnant until the doctor confirms the aching nausea she'd been feeling and the blood she found was a miscarriage. It shouldn't be possible to miss something you only had for three weeks and didn't know you had, Julia thinks but Barbie still holds her all night while she cries it out. She feels like her body has failed somehow, and therefore by extension, she has as well. Julia sees a grief counsellor for a session or two and slowly absolves herself and her body.

The issue itself takes longer to go away. Although they are in a committed relationship, they hadn't discussed future-related things like kids at all. With Peter, it was always a matter of _one day,_ once he and Julia were both at a decent level in their careers to have the time but then Julia's career in Chicago went down the pan and even after moving to Chester's Mill they didn't get around to it. Julia doesn't know how Barbie feels about having kids at all, and it's hard to bring up with him. But of course, it comes up again almost half a year later anyway when Julia misses a period.

After the miscarriage, pregnancy is more than a little frightening to her. After the dome, she wasn't sure she had the capacity to be scared any more but this? This is truly scary. He holds her hand while they wait in silence for the pregnancy tests to show the results, resting his head against her temple.

Two pink lines on all three of them. _Positive_.

They stare at them for a while, in shock. Julia turns to him, a little warily. "Are you- are you happy?"

"Happy? Of course I am!" Barbie tells her. "We're... Julia, we're having a baby."

And then they collapse into hysterical giggles because it's clearly the only reasonable and appropriate response.

Nine months later, Mollie Rose Barbara is born. Barbie and Julia fall in love again.

-X-

**iv. marriage, or something like it**

Joe and Norrie get married young, both of them aged twenty-one. It raises eyebrows among a lot of the congregation in the registry office that day, apart from all those who had been under the dome—all surviving town residents, wherever they ended up, were invited- who understand the value of living life to the fullest and doing whatever made you happy. It's simultaneously good and strange seeing people again, some of whom they haven't spoken to since the army lifted the quarantine over Chester's Mill.

Harriet's husband Greg who they'd never met comes over and shakes them both firmly by the hand, thanking them both sincerely for helping to deliver little Alice, who is now a small but lively five-year-old. He hugs Carolyn tightly and thanks her too, and tells her he's sorry for Alice's death. Carolyn has been emotional all day as mother of the bride but this brings out the tears worse than ever. Every former Chester's Mill resident there looks misty-eyed when little Alice hugs Carolyn, clearly knowing at least the basic story of her namesake.

Norrie is still the punk rock chick she was when they were in Chester's Mill so she wears a fifties-style white lace dress with a full skirt and white Doc Martens. Angie is the bridesmaid, while Norrie insists that Mollie is her flower girl which Mollie takes very seriously indeed—both Julia and Barbie know Norrie isn't so fond of flowers but they appreciate how she includes Mollie in the wedding, getting enthused when Mollie shows her the flower petals she picked out especially. Norrie and Mollie have only met a few times, but Norrie was an instant hit with her right from the beginning. Mollie is a cautious girl by nature -a trait that Barbie and Julia are unsure where she picked up given their own run-towards-the-fire tendencies- but Norrie's free-spiritedness always seems to bring her out of her shell.

Mollie walks down the short aisle in front of Norrie all on her own, dropping the petals from her little pink sheer bag. Julia is holding his arm tightly in the seats the whole time they watch their daughter, wiping proud tears from the corners of her eyes. He wants to tease her for it, before realising his eyes were prickling too. Mollie runs over to her parents as soon as she's performed her duty, having got her fill of the limelight while walking in front of the bride. "Was I good, Daddy?" she whispers hopefully.

Barbie pulls her onto his lap and presses a kiss into her wild red hair (he's insanely glad she inherited _that_ from Julia). "Not just good, the best ever," he whispers back proudly and Mollie squirms happily.

The wedding reception takes place in the function room of an unusual little pub in New York. The walls are papered with newspaper cuttings, pop culture memorabilia is everywhere and the seats are high American diner style barstools with high tables. Joe and Norrie look utterly blissful as they have the first dance, camera flashes going off around them. Alice is chatting away to Mollie at Harriet's table; Mollie looks slightly taken aback by the older girl's sheer energy but comfortable all the same. Barbie and Julia sit at their own table, watching the celebrations contentedly. This feels like a full circle now, from the trauma of the events in the dome to the happiness of today. Ultimately, although it's hard to reconcile with the good people who died there, none of them would be here had it not been for Chester's Mill. In that way, Julia is glad for it.

"Do you think we'll ever get married?" Barbie muses, watching the happy couple.

Julia looks at him suspiciously, eyes narrowed. "Is this you asking, Barbara?"

Barbie shrugs, smiling. "If you want."

"Wow, I need a minute to let the sheer romance of that proposal waft over me." She rolls her eyes and he laughs. Julia thinks for a minute about his first question. "Honestly? No. I don't think we will."

"No?" He looks mock-wounded, hand over his heart.

"I mean, I'm not violently opposed to it. It is the right path for some people-" She gestures to Joe and Norrie, laughing at their own clumsiness on the dance floor "-but we've been together five years, we have a kid together, and we're still happy. I've never felt like we need it, you know?" Barbie nods thoughtfully, agreeing. "Plus, weddings are an expensive business and with another baby on the way, I just don't think we'll be able to afford it."

Julia watches him with a barely suppressed smile, waiting for that to sink in. She only found out yesterday herself and she had been waiting for the right time to tell him. He snaps his head around after a second and gives her a questioning look. She nods and laughs at his shocked, ecstatic face. Barbie leans across to kiss her, and they're both grinning into it.

_I'm not your story, _he told her once when they first met_._ She knows it now: this is definitely a full circle.


	2. part ii

**I marked this story as complete when I wrote the first bit but I couldn't quite bring myself to leave the fluffy, happy universe I made up, especially considering that _damn_ finale-so here are three more future!fic oneshots. The first lot were really Julia-centric so I put these ones in Barbie's perspective. Enjoy and let me know what you think.**

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**i. first date**

Never one to back out of an agreement, Barbie dutifully organises their first date. It's s little difficult seeing as he's still finding his feet in Chicago and consequently doesn't have the local knowledge of restaurants to hand; eventually though, he finds a quaint little Italian that he thinks Julia will like.

The government's compensation package to the survivors of what's being called the Chester's Mill Disaster, which Barbie thinks is something to do with the missile strike on American citizens and the media embargo on reports of it. They both independently have the means to move anywhere they want, so since Julia still pined for it, they moved to Chicago after the army quarantine was lifted. Barbie had never been before they moved, but his previously nomadic existence meant that he had no real preference about where he wanted to live—Julia had shyly suggested he could come to Chicago with her, and just like that, it was decided. Barbie knows he'd follow her anywhere as long as she'd have him.

A few hectic weeks into their new post-Dome lives pass and things calm down a little, so Barbie broaches the subject with her. Julia laughs when she remembers their sleepily-made arrangement on her couch in the Chester's Mill house that had now been demolished along with the rest of the town. In truth, it hadn't been all that long since they had that conversation, but with everything that had happened after, it might as well have been lifetimes.

"Don't tell me: you've changed your mind?" Barbie asks on the phone to her, smiling even though he still half-expects her to say she had. Barbie has a fear that one day she'll see him for who he really is, that all his faults and past sins will put her off once and for all, and she'll run a mile away from him. He doesn't know what Julia sees in him that makes her stick around but she hasn't taken off yet, which is something.

"Me? Never." Julia tells him and a spike of relief floods him. "I'd just forgotten until now. Where are you taking me?"

Barbie grins even though she can't see him. "Now that would be telling."

Exactly as he said he would, he drives to her house for seven o'clock. He and Julia had decided, in a manner of speaking, not to live together for the time being so he rents an apartment while she lives in a house in the suburbs. Although he and Julia had not discussed in so many words why they felt it was necessary to live apart at first, Barbie still knows the reason behind it. It's to compensate for the less than ordinary beginnings their relationship had, since everything happened so quickly and intensely under the dome. They're both a little scared that their battle-born relationship might not survive in the 'real' world so they slow things down a little now they can.

And for all the extraordinary things that have happened to them since they met, the date does go remarkably normally. The conversation flows easily, they laugh (a lot), and go halves on the bill at the end. Neither of them really want the night to end, but Barbie walks her up to her front door from the car anyway. They stop on the porch, looking at each other with barely suppressed smiles.

"So," Barbie says casually. "This was fun. We should really do it again some time."

Julia snorts. They've been doing this all evening, laughing as they go through the ordinary motions of a first date despite already knowing everything about each other. "Count on it."

Barbie steps forward, a few inches away from her. "There's one more thing though." He leans down slowly and touches his lips to hers. They've kissed a thousand times by now; sometimes out of desperate longing, sometimes out of the joy of being alive, and sometimes out of the despair of parting but it always feels like the first time with her. Being in love will do that to you, he thinks.

They kiss until Barbie feels her smile against his lips. He pulls away a fraction. "Goodnight, Julia."

"Goodnight, Barbie." Julia opens her door and steps inside, but takes her time shutting it behind her, holding his eyes until the lock clicks.

-X-

**ii. demons**

The ghost of what happened in Chester's Mill never really leaves them. Barbie wouldn't want it to either, not really. As much as there are certain things he'd rather forget about, he also doesn't want to forget how to value the things that matter- something their shared experiences taught every survivor. He holds onto the things he has to thank the dome for, like his amazing girlfriend and the future he's going to have with her. Where would he have ended up had it not been for those damn cows on the road? A drifter, a nomad probably, and Barbie finds he's glad he swerved into Joe McAlister's field that day. He wouldn't swap the life he's got now for anything.

All this, though, doesn't stop the memories from haunting him. He used to have nightmares about Iraq, about the bloodshed and watching his friends die before his eyes. Now he wakes up covered in sweat and thrashing wildly because his mind is back in Chester's Mill. Every time it happens, Julia holds him close and cards her fingers through his hair, telling him to breathe and that he's okay, that she's here.

Julia worries. Barbie tells her that his nightmares are about feeling the rough twine of the noose constricting his windpipe and the floor dropping from under him, which isn't really a lie because sometimes that really is what he sees, along with Big Jim's triumphant reptilian smile. More often though, he sees himself back in that hospital room, his hands completely frozen above Julia's blood-stained corpse and the continuous flat line beep of the monitor drowning out everything else. He does not tell her this when they talk things out in the dark.

He's seen her body battered and broken one too many times. When they make love, he kisses the scar of where the bullet entered and brushes his thumb against the circular scar tissue on her ribcage; he's committed the location of both to memory. The little reminders that she survived, she _conquered_.

-x-

**iii. night feed**

Barbie is a pretty light sleeper anyway -one of those army things he never managed to shake off- so when Mollie announces her desire for a feed through the baby monitor at a frankly ungodly time of morning, he's awake if not alert instantly. Julia's toes nudge his calf insistently under the covers as he lies there, savouring the warm bed for a few seconds longer. "Your turn," Julia mumbles into her pillow, barely leaving sleep at all, but Barbie swears she sounds a little smug.

He tenses all his muscles at once, releases, then gets up and scrubs his face with his hands. He pads softly into the nursery and looks down into Mollie's crib. Her face is crumpled and red with the force of crying, her little fists balled up tightly in the air. "Hey, hey, shhh," he says softly, scooping her up with one arm. "Let's get you fed then, sweet pea."

Barbie has still not gotten to the point where he can hold his daughter casually, without the feeling that she's so precious she needs the most delicate treatment (even when their friends and family hold her, he still cringes a little when they jostle her what he perceives to be that _bit_ too much) so he measures each step slowly and steadily down the stairs into the kitchen. He rocks her gently while they wait for the bottle to warm up. Mollie is slightly calmer in his arms now, clinging onto his fingers with both her hands, but he can tell she's still pining for a feeding.

It's still dark out, and the light from the street lamp filters through the slats in the blinds, casting everything in an orange glow. Mollie feeds contentedly, her tiny fingers reaching up to touch the warm bottle. Barbie is barely aware of much else until he feels another pair of eyes on him. Julia is leaning against the fridge, a sleepy smile on her face as she watches them.

"I thought you'd be enjoying your night off," Barbie says, gesturing to their daughter in his arms.

Julia shrugs, shuffling over to them in her slippers. "Couldn't get back to sleep." She props her head against his shoulder. "The bed's cold without you." Barbie smiles happily, even though her words evoke the ghost of a memory that's not so cheerful. He reminds himself that the very fact that they are standing here with a perfect being they created means it ended happily.

They stand in silence for a while, all four eyes on Mollie. Barbie hopes Mollie will know one day how deeply she is loved-or rather, it's his goal to make sure she does. Nothing in the world is so important as her. Mollie finishes the bottle and drifts back off to sleep peacefully, her lavender eyelids fluttering against her pale skin.

"When we met..." Julia says but trails off without finishing her train of thought.

He looks over at her. "What?"

Julia meets his eyes. "Did you ever think we'd end up here?"

When they first met, he'd thought she was a nosy, upstart journalist type. Not that he's going to tell her that. "Not for one second." He shrugs, laughing a little. "Glad we did though."

She nods, grinning too. "Oh, me too."


End file.
